The girl is one of the heaviest of her age ever recorded in the UK and at her peak weight of 10st 10lbs, was more than three times the typical weight for a girl of five.

 

Yesterday experts criticised the failure to identify the youngster's problem earlier and said the authorities should do more to monitor obesity¹ in pre-school years.

 

Details of the case were revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the local authority refused to reveal more information for fear of identifying the child. It is not known whether any adults had been arrested over her care.

 

The child, from Newport, South Wales, was taken into care in August last year because she weighed 10st 5lbs.

 

Her weight increased to 10st 10lbs two months later, but dropped to below 8st this September.

 

Earlier this year it was revealed that more than 900 children, including 101 under-fives, had been admitted to hospital because of obesity in the past three years.

 

Tam Fry, of the Child Growth Foundation, said the Newport case highlighted the need for proper weight monitoring before children started primary school.

 

He added: 'We are failing our children hugely by not monitoring their growth from a very early age. About 25 per cent of our primary school entrants are seriously overweight.'

 

Commenting on the Newport case, he said he found it 'absolutely astounding²（令人震惊的）' the problem wasn't picked up earlier. Mr Fry added: 'She would have been out and about and all over the place.

 

Nursery school teachers will have seen her, probably she has been taken to the doctors several times, therefore the surgery staff and the doctor will have seen her.

 

'It just throws up a whole problem of people wishing not to mention weight in case it upsets the parents or upsets the child.'

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